Stoecker 5th: 3 Brits in top 10

Tabby Stoecker finished fifth as Team GB celebrated three sliders in the top nine sleds in the women’s skeleton at the Olympic Winter Games on Saturday night.

Stoecker placed only behind race winner Janine Flock and a trio of German athletes, with team mates Freya Tarbit finishing seventh and Amelia Coltman ninth in Cortina.

All three British sliders were making their Olympic debuts as GB qualified three sleds for the first time ever at an Olympic Games.

Stoecker clocked a four-run time of 3 minutes 50.46 seconds; Tarbit totalled 3 minutes 50.8; and Coltman came down in 3.51.32.

The only sliders to finish alongside the Brits in the top ten had all won individual Olympic or World Championship medals prior to this race, with Flock and bronze medalist Jacqueline Pfeifer having more medals to their names than Stocker, Tarbit and Coltman had races at the elite level.

“I am just really proud of myself and how far I have come on this journey and for my first Olympic Games, to come away with a fifth,” said Stoecker.

"The women who have beaten me today have all won World Championships, won the Olympics, they're really practiced with this. To be mixing it with them, I'm so proud."

"This is all our first Games and we've all finished in the top 10, and I think that's something we can be really, really proud of,” added Tarbit.

"It shows that British Skeleton is in a great place right now. It's just incredible, and I think the programme as a whole should be really proud."

Freya Tarbit placed seventh on her Olympic debut

Two of Stoecker, Tarbit and Coltman will compete in the mixed team race with men’s gold medalist Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt on Monday night.

A new addition to the Olympic schedule, the team event sees male and female athletes link up as teams of two to complete one run each, one after another. Unlike the individual events, the competition features a reaction start system, with athletes given a time penalty if they false start.

Gold for Flock was the 36-year-old’s first Olympic medal in her fourth Games, with the Austrian previously having dropped from first to fourth on the final run in PyeongChang in 2018, when Lizzy Yarnold and Laura Deas won gold and bronze for GB.

Susanne Kreher took silver to supplement her 2023 World Champion gold, with Pfeifer adding bronze to the Olympic silver she won in South Korea eight years ago.

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